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HISTORY OF THE CALIFORNIA 
TEXTBOOK PLAN. 



California stands unique and alone among all 
the states of this Union in its manner of handling 
the textbooks for its public schools. Its constitu- 
tion provides for printing the books in its own 
state printing office and then distributing them to 
the children in the schools free of cost or any 
charge whatever. Naturally this idea attracts a 
great deal of inquiry. The outline within has 
been prepared as a brief way to answer the many 
questioning persons and letters that come in con- 
tinual procession to the capital. 



Issued by the Department of Education, and printed at the 
State Printino- Office in 1915. 



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D. of D. 
NOV 23 1915 



THE CALIFORNIA TEXTBOOK PLAN. 

By the Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

What is known as the California Textbook System began when the 
legislature of 1883 submitted the Perry amendment to the consti- 
tution, providing for state publication of textbooks, in the following 
words: 

"Sec. 7. The governor, superintendent of public instruction, 
and the principals of the state normal schools, shall constitute the 
State Board of Education, and shall compile, or cause to be com- 
piled, and adopt a uniform series of textbooks for use in the 
common schools throughout the state. The state board may cause 
such textbooks, when adopted, to be printed and published by the 
superintendent of state printing at the state printing office, and 
w^hen so printed and published to be distributed and sold at the 
cost price of printing, publishing, and distributing the same. The 
textbooks so adopted shall continue in use not less than four years. ' ' 

This was adopted by the people by an almost unanimous vote in 
November, 1884, and was followed by the necessary enabling legislation 
in 1885. By 1886 the State Board had prepared and the state printer 
had published four books, by use of an appropriation of $170,000, of 
which $20,000 was for compiling and $150,000 for plant, material and 
labor. The feeling of that time is interesting to observe as reported by 
W. T. Welcker, the superintendent of public instruction, in his report 
to the governor in 1886 : 

''The opponents of this measure (the Perry amendment), 
although they were not successful, were able and fiercely zealous. 
It was indeed a novel experiment and a great departure from all 
known methods. In opposition it was urged that the State Board 
of Education would prove incompetent ; that granting their ability 
to discharge their appropriate duties, this was a work of expertism 
of a rare and special kind ; that the preparation of school textbooks 
was a trade in itself which required years of training in that par- 
ticular business. 

''So much scandal has gathered about the supply of the public 
schools with textbooks, so many charges of corruption alleged to 
have been done by the book houses among school officers, school 
boards, and legislatures, that many persons would be well satisfied 
with textbooks published under the scheme now under consider- 
ation, even were they somewhat inferior in quality and more 



expensive in cost than those heretofore in use. But the cost of the 
books is one of the most gratifying things connected with the enter- 
prise. The cost at Sacramento, as determined by the State Board 
of Education, of the books now furnished, is as follows : 

CALIFORNIA STATE BOOKS IN 1886. 

Speller and Word Analysis 20 cents 

First Reader, 128 pages 15 cents 

Second Reader, 228 pages 30 cents 

Third Reader, 512 pages 40 cents 

"The series of readers, covering substantially the same ground 
as those heretofore in use, will cost 85 cents, while the price of Ban- 
croft's is $2.60; McGuffey's is $2.50; Appleton's is $3.00; and 
Swinton's $3.05 ! The series of the state costs but little more than 
one-third of the price of the cheapest of the above !" 

Two j^ears later the legislature, upon the advice and request of the 
State Board of Education, made another appropriation of $165,000, 
$15,000 for compiling and $150,000 for plant, materials and labor, and 
authorized the publication of a number of additional books. Other 
appropriations were made for the state printing office from time to time 
in subsequent years, for machinery, buildings, etc., but it is not possible 
to divide the expense accurately between textbooks and other state 
printing. 

FIRST PERIOD. 

This gets us fairly into the first period of the California Textbook 
System, which may be called the period of state publication and local 
authorship. It continued from 1883 to 1903, or twenty years. It was 
a time of contention, strife and abuse, very disquieting to those who 
were responsible for the enterprise. 

The newness of the scheme shocked people's minds and roused their 
antagonism. The mechanical difficulties to be overcome were innumer- 
able. Some editions w^ere badly bound. Some books were poorly 
written. Every teacher preferred to use some favorite textbooks, that 
he had been brought up on perhaps, and to be obliged to give these up 
for something else again made loud verbal explosions on every hand. 
There were hundreds of book dealers in the state who were cut out of 
the profits of retailing books, and they were frequently heard from. 
The great publishing houses had agents circulating in every part of the 
land, whose religion it was to everlastingly damn the whole idea of state 
publication. 

The leading educators almost universally followed suit. Institutes, 
clubs and associations condemned it. No educational gathering was 
complete that did not take a fall out of the state textbooks. Never did 

4 



any one have a good, word to say of them in public. They were an 
impersonal sort of thing, like the weather, that any one could criticize 
and abuse without fear of unpleasant consequences. Doubtless, at this 
time, any books whatever that could have been printed by the state 
would have met the same fate. Yet it is worth remarking that the 
people of the state who do the voting in the legislature and at the polls 
have never failed to uphold the California plan by overwhelming 
majorities whenever an opportunity has come to them, even down to the 
present day. 

However, those in charge of state publication became very uncom- 
fortable over the general clamor. They revised the books and added to 
them in vain, and continually they looked for some way to improve the 
matter, to stop the howls. Undoubtedly, if it had not been planted 
deep in the constitution itself, state publication would have gone by the 
board during this period. 

The close of the period found the state publishing fourteen textbooks, 
as shown in the following table : 

CALIFORNIA STATE BOOKS IN 1903. 



NaniPi of Book 



Cost price 

at 
Sacramento 



Revised First Reader 

Revised Second Reader 

Revised Third Reader 

Revised Fourth Reader 

Speller 

Primary Number Lessons 

Advanced Arithmetic 

Lessons in Language 

Revised English Grammar 

New U. S. History (Grammar School) 

Elementary Geography 

Advanced Geography 

Physiology 

Civil Government 



$0 16 
28 
44 
53 
25 
20 
42 
25 
47 
81 
50 
1 02 
50 
46 



These books were prepared under the general direction of the State 
Board of Education. As a matter of fact it was quite impossible for 
the busy and overworked men who composed the board (the superin- 
tendent of public instruction and the presidents of the state normal 
schools) to do the work of writing textbooks, so various plans were tried. 
W. L. Willis, a teacher and newspaper man of Sacramento, prepared 
the speller, which remained in use for twenty years. H. C. Kinne, a 
veteran teacher of San Francisco, offered a set of readers which were 
adapted to meet the ideas of the board, F. H. Clark, of the Los Angeles 
high school, was engaged to prepare a history. At least a dozen other 
teachers of the state were engaged in one way and another in the prepa- 



ration of these earliest books. Among them were Wm. Carey Jones, 
Frank Morton, Volney Rattan, Geo. R. Kleeberger, Sarah P. Monk, 
Elizabeth Wilson, Ruth Royce and Cornelia "Walker. 

At last, the actual work was placed upon an editor-in-chief, W. H. 11. 
Raymond, with various expert assistants from time to time. Among 
these were Miss Anna C. Murphy, who is now Mrs. Edwin Markham and 
Mrs. Mary W. George, who is now on the faculty of the San Jose State 
Normal School. This editorial board worked at the state capital in 
connection with the office of the superintendent. 

SECOND PERIOD. 

During the twenty year period, four million books were made and sold 
to the people for a million and half of dollars. 

During the administration of Governor H. H. Markham, while 
Thomas J. Kirk was superintendent and Tirey L. Ford attorney general, 
the law and the constitution were very carefully scrutinized to find some 
way out of the woods of general complaint. It was determined that, 
although the books themselves must be manufactured at the state print- 
ing office, there was nothing in the constitution that required local 
authorship, nothing to prevent the state board from leasing or buying 
copyrights and plates of books already published for the use of the state 
printer. 

This construction was hailed as a godsend. Thus could the teachers 
of the state have the very best books extant, from the most meritorious, 
successful and popular authors, selected in the open markets of the 
world, with the sky for a limit. The legislature of 1903 passed a new- 
set of enabling laws, providing for the following plan : 

A standing committee of the State Board of Education, composed of 
the governor, the superintendent and a third member elected by the 
board shall have direct charge of the textbook business. This state text- 
book committee was given a secretary with a salary of $2,500, which was 
regarded as a wild extravagance at the time. Under the general direc- 
tion of the board it should select books, lease plates, do all necessary 
editorial work, and report to the board. The books when printed should 
be sold to the children at cost as before. A textbook appropriation of 
$20,000 was made for the use of the textbook committee. About half 
of this was still on hand when free textbooks were adopted in 1913. 

The new committee went to work enthusiastically. It had difficulty 
at first in getting the publishers to lease the plates of their successful 
books. They were chary of the scheme. Inertia was to be overcome. 
The first royalties were high, ranging from one-fourth to one-third the 
list price of the book. The American Book Company had the lion's 
share of the adoptions. D. C. Heath & Company, the Macmillan Com- 
pany, Ginn & Company, were also represented, and later Silver, Burdett 



& Company, the World Book Company, and Newson & Company. This 
was the period of state publication and leased copyrights. It lasted 
from 1903 to 1913, or ten years. Public clamor somewhat died down. 
The book companies were ameliorated. The teachers had the same books 
as other people. The dealers had accepted the situation. 

The chief storm center at this time was the cost of the books to the 
children, alleged to be caused by their frequent change. Of course, in 
changing the system, all the books were eventually changed, but the law 
requiring no change in less than four years, and no book contract for 
less than four years, was strictly adhered to. Several of the books had 
stood unchanged from a dozen to a score of years. However, it was 
found that when a book had been in Lise four years so many people were 
fighting it that it must needs be changed. During the latter part of 
this period determined efforts were made to lower the cost of the books. 
The publishers very generally entered into heated competition against 
each other and the royalties were reduced from about twenty per cent 
to about fifteen per cent of the list price. No headway, however, could 
be made in lowering the manufacturing cost. In general the price to 
the children was somewhat below the publishers' list price for the same 
book, and the book in most cases was specially adapted to California use 
by changes and supplements in the plates. The following table shows 
books, costs, royalties and prices at the close of the period : 

CALIFORNIA STATE BOOKS IN 1913. 

(Prices fixed March 3, 1912.) 



Cost of 
manufacture 



Royalty 



Cost price 

at 
Sacramento 



Primer 

First Reader 

Second Reader 

Third Reader 

Fourth Reader 

Fifth Reader 

Speller — Book I ^^ 

Speller— Book II 

First Book in Arithmetic 

Advanced School Arithmetic 
English Lessons*— Book I ___ 
English Lessons*— Book II__ 

Introductory History 

Brief School History 

Introductory Geography 

Advanced Geography 

Civics 

Writing— Book I 

Writing— Book II 

Writing— Book III 

Writing* — Book IV 

Writing*— Book V 

Primer of Hygiene 



$0 132 
122 
1375 
19 
21 
21 
145 
145 
1775 
19 
1925 
22 
22 
43 
30 
50 
255 
03 
03 
03 
03 
03 
15 



048 
048 
0525 
06 



025 

025 

0525 

09 

0675 

09 

15 

15 

09 

15 

125 

01 

01 

01 

01 

01 

06 



$0 18 
17 
19 
25 
30 
30 
17 
17 
23 
28 
26 
31 
37 
58 
45 
65 
38 
04 
04 
04 
04 
04 
21 



The state printer and the state board of education in fixing prices 
all these j^ears had added to the actual cost a small percentage to build 
up a fund to repay the state its original outlay for the printing plant. 
At the end of the period this accumulated school book fund amounted 
to about $200,000. It was then added to the appropriations for free 
books, and expended for that purpose. 

There were four successive secretaries of the state textbook committee : 
J. H. Strine, ex-superintendent of Los Angeles County ; Robert W. Fur- 
long, ex-superintendent of ]\Iarin County ; George L. Sackett, ex-super- 
intendent of Ventura County ; and B. S. Lobdell, a long time agent of 
the publishing houses. The plan followed for adopting books and 
getting them to the children during this period was as follows : 

''The textbook committee has direct charge of all the textbook 
affairs, under direction of the board. When the contract for the 
plates of a textbook is about to expire, this committee invites bids 
from publishing houses for suitable books, renewing or substituting 
the contract. 

Half a dozen or more -expert teachers of the state are designated 
as readers, and paid about $25 each, to make a detailed study of all 
books offered in a given branch. The state board meets and con- 
siders the various books, giving opportunity for the agents of the 
books to present arguments, hearing the reports of the readers, and 
admitting any other testimony or opinion that may be offered. 
Then it chooses the book by ballot and instructs the textbook com- 
mittee to make contract accordingly^ The complete plates in dupli- 
cate are furnished to the state printer by the publishing company 
gratis, all changes desired by the committee being incorporated. 

The books are then manufactured in the state printing office and 
sold by the superintendent of public instruction to the dealers 
and school officers of the state. The publishers are paid quarterly 
from the proceeds of the sales, so much royalty for each book sold. 
The prices are fixed by the State Board of Education annualh^ upon 
the cost reports of the state printer. 

*4ff ^^ -^ 4ff •Vf 4& 

•Sr "SP "TT '«' '7f •«• 

Before a dealer can buy books from the state office he must sign 
an affidavit by which he agrees that he will not sell the books at a 
price higher than that fixed by the State Board of Education, and 
also that he will not sell the books to purchasers outside the state. 
Upon signing it, the dealer must forward it to his county superin- 
tendent of schools, who, in turn, must endorse it and forward it to 
the state office." 



THIRD AND LAST PERIOD. 

The third and last period may be called the time of state publication, 
leased copyrights, and free distribution. It extends from 1913 to the 
present time, or a little more than two years. 

Free school books was not a new idea. Superintendent Ira G. Hoitt 
recommended it in his report to the governor in 1888 as the cure for 
our textbook troubles, as follows : 

''The State of California has taken a vstep in the right direction 
in furnishing books of its own manufacture to the children at cost. 
It should, in my opinion, go one step farther and furnish the use of 
textbooks free to all children attending the public schools." 

It had been proposed many times since, without hope or prospect of 
success, until the progressive idea began to free men's minds from 
precedent and convention. The administration of Governor Hiram W. 
Johnson took it up. The legislature of 1911 submitted to the people a 
constitutional amendment known as the Shanahan amendment, which 
came to vote in November, 1912, and despite the customary opposition 
was carried by a great majority. It read as follows : 

"Sec. 7. The legislature shall provide for the appointment or 
election of a state board of education, and said board shall provide, 
compile, or cause to be compiled and adopt, a uniform series of 
textbooks for use in the day and evening elementary schools 
throughout the state. The state board may cause such textbooks, 
when adopted, to be printed and published by the superintendent 
of state printing, at the state printing office ; and wherever and 
however such textbooks may be printed and published, they shall 
be furnished and distributed by the state free of cost or any charge 
whatever, to all children attending the day and evening elementary 
schools of the state, under such conditions as the legislature shall 
prescribe. The textbooks so adopted, shall continue in use not less 
than four j^ears mthout any change or alteration whatsoever which 
will require or necessitate the furnishing of new boofe to such 
pupils." 

It was the intention and expectation of all who had to do with this 
amendment that it would not go into effect until the beginning of a new- 
fiscal year and after proper enabling legislation had been effected. 
Attorney General Webb, however, after taking some time for delibera- 
tion and investigation, rendered an official opinion stating: 

First — That the old State Board of Education and the textbook 
committee are abolished and there can not be a new plan until it is 
created by legislative action. 

9 



Second — That the free textbooks should be furnished the schools 
at once, without waiting for enabling legislation or anything else. 

Third — That all of the functions of the state educational system 
devolved upon the Superintendent of Public Instruction, as the 
educational representative of the people. 

Thus the superintendent faced one of the most extensive, complex and 
difficult tasks that ever came to any man, to furnish free textbooks by 
hundreds of thousands to the impatient schools and children of a great 
state ; to do it without funds, without precedent, without previous plan, 
and at once. He went ahead as best he could. The state printer put 
his great plant to work day and night at fullest capacity. The legisla- 
ture made some emergency appropriations. A scheme of distribution 
was devised that worked well and that has never been changed in prin- 
ciple since. The books went out in carload lots and reached every nook 
and corner of the state, in every desert, and mountain and plain, from 
Oregon to Mexico. The teachers of the state were very helpful and 
patient, making their first demands as light as possible, and when neces- 
sary doing withoLit the books that were slow in making. 

During this time the state printer was Friend "Wm. Eichardson, a 
practical newspaper man with a talent for organization. He was of 
great service to the state in the early days of the free textbook enter- 
prise. By a careful cost finding system and rigid supervision of detail 
he substantially reduced the cost of manufacture time after time. 

The new State Board of Education was organized in the fall of 1913. 
It was a lay board of seven members, appointed by the governor and 
generously furnished with appropriations for remuneration, expenses, 
equipment and all the expert assistants and office helpers that it desires. 
Up to the present time it has made no changes in textbooks or in manner 
of handling them, but it is admirably adapted for investigating and 
wisely choosing bool^ through its experts in future, and for handling 
the commercial and industrial problems that come up in connection 
with their production, distribution, and use. The whole thing is simply 
a matter of state enterprise. If it can be efficiently and honestly and 
economically administered it will be successful and a great blessing to 
the people. Otherwise — well, then it will be to the contrary! 

The following table shows the books manufactured at the present 
time, July, 1915, with their cost and selling price to those who buy. 
Private schools like to buy the state books. A very few parents buy, so 
that their children can have duplicate books at home, or so that they 
can use individual books. Sometimes children buy to replace those they 
have themselves lost or destroyed. Books are not sold outside the state. 



10 



CALIFORNIA STATE BOOKS IN 1915. 



Name of book 



Cost and 

selling 

price at 

Sacramento 



Primer $0 15 

First Reader 15 

Second Reader 18 

Third Reader 19 

Fourth Reader 24 

Fifth Reader 24 

Speller— One 14 

Speller— Two 14 

First Arithmetic 18 

Advanced Arithmetic 23 

New English Lessons— One 23 

New English Lessons— Two 26 

Introductory History 31 

Brief History 41 

Introductory Geography 32 

Advanced Geography 54 

Hygiene 18 

Civics 31 

Writing Book— One 4 

Writing Book— Two 4 

Writing Book— Three ! 4 

Writing Book— Four ; 4 

Writing Book— Five 4 



The following table will be of interest in this connection, showing 
the trade name of each of the California books with its publisher and 
the price at which it is delivered to the children by the publisher: 

EQUIVALENT OF CALIFORNIA STATE BOOKS IN 1915. 



Original name of book 



Publisher's 
list price 



Aldine Primer ^ __ 


Newson & Co 


$0 32 


Progressive Road to Reading .-_ 

Brooks Second Reader _. _ . 


Silver, Burdett & Co--. 

American Book Co 

American Book Co. 

Silver, Burdett & Co.___ 
Silver, Burdett & Co.— 

The Macmillan Co 

The Macmillan Co 

American Book Co 

American Book Co 

Silver, Burdett & Co.___ 
Silver, Burdett & Co.__. 

D. C. Heath & Co 

American Book Co 

The Macmillan Co 

The Macmillan Co 

D. C. Heath & Co 

American Book Co 

American Book Co 

American Book Co 

American Book Co 

American Book Co 

World Book Company— 


32 

35 


Brooks Third Reader— 


40 


Stepping Stones to Literature 


60 


Stepping Stones to Literature 


60 


Chancellors Spellers— Book I ^ _ . 


25 


Chancellors Spellers — Book II 


30 


McClymonds & Jones El. Arithmetic 

McClymonds & Jones Essentials in Arith. 

Guide Books to English— Book I 

Guide Books to English — Book II 


35 
60 
45 
60 


Thomas Introductory History 


65 


McMasters Brief History of the U. S 

Tarr & McMurrays Intro. Geography 

Tarr & McMurrays Advanced Geography. 

Dunns Community and the Citizen 

Spencer Sons Writing— Book I 

Spencer Sons Writing— Book II__ 


1 OO 
60 

1 00 
75 
05 
05 


Spencer Sons Writing — Book III 


05 


Spencer Sons Writing — Book IV 


05 


Spencer Sons Writing— Book V — 


05 


Primer of Hygiene _ _ _ 


40 







11 



It will be seen that the California prices are very much lower than 
those of the regular publishers. The comparison is not quite fair, 
perhaps, in that some of the overhead expense, as the salaries of some 
managers and editors, the cost of exploiting, the interest and deprecia- 
tion of plant, the losses by unsuccessful books, is not included in 
reckoning the California costs. We believe, however, that the state 
is getting its service of textbooks at a saving of at least 25 per cent, 
everything considered, over what it would cost if given to private 
publishers in the regular way. 

Certainly the state would not recede from or give up its textbook 
system under any circumstances. It is running more smoothly, giving 
more general satisfaction and meeting with less opposition than ever 
before in its history. The teachers find great comfort in being relieved 
of the task of badgering the children to buy books and in being able, for 
the most part, to start their classes all together fully equipped on the 
first day of the term. It is alleged by some that our books are not so 
well bound as those of private publishers. "We find, however, that they 
last as long in actual use as any books. 

The present method of adopting, making and distributing textbooks 
may be briefly sketched thus : 

The preliminary investigation of the textbooks offered to the State 
Board of Education by publishers and authors for adoption is made by 
the three commissioners of education and the superintendent of public 
instruction. They spend some months in the study and are free to con- 
sult and to employ expert teachers actually at work in the schools of the 
state upon any phase of the examination in which they need help. 
Finally they report to the board. The board gives audience to the 
representatives of everj^ book offered, c[uestions them, listens to briefs, 
recommendations and all other testim.ony offered. It listens to the 
reports of the commissioners and the expert readers. At last the board 
makes choice and contracts for the use Qf the plates of the successful 
books for four or more years, at a certain royalty for each book dis- 
tributed, stipulating any additions, changes or California supplements 
that may be desired at the expense of the publishers. The publisher 
furnishes the completed plates in duplicate to the state printer, who 
prints the books in 25,000 editions and turns them over to the ware- 
house, from which they are distributed to the schools upon the order of 
the superintendent of public instruction. 

At the end of each year the teacher or principal sends in a requisition 
for the additional books she will need for the next year, accompanied by 
a list of the bool« she already has. In response, the books are sent out 
to the school clerks by the superintendent, with parcel post, express or 
freight rates prepaid by the state. Some shipments consist of half a 
dozen books by mail to a remote school on a mountain top : others are 

12 



whole carloads to some city in the valley or by the sea. Later supple- 
mental requisitions are filled when necessary. The necessity and the 
reasonableness of the demands are verified by requiring all the requisi- 
tions to be approved and signed by the clerk of the school and the 
county superintendent. 

When the clerk receives the books for his school he turns them over to 
the teacher, principal or superintendent, who in turn distributes them 
to the children, keeps a record of them and is responsible for their care 
and preservation. Annual reports are made, showing the number of 
books on hand and their condition. At the end of the term the books 
are, or should be, collected, repaired, recovered, fumigated, ready for 
redistribution at the opening of the new term. 

It is a most encouraging thing that the teachers have accepted the 
responsibility of the free textbooks Avisely and moderately. No selfish 
grabbing for unreasonable supplies of books is apparent, and the books 
usually are carefully used. The cost for the first two and one-half 
years, including the original stocking up of the schools, was roughly 
half a million dollars. There are about 400,000 children in the schools, 
so the total cost per child per year is approximately fifty cents. This 
includes the expense of distribution, but does not include such additional 
or supplementary books as are purchased by the local schools. The law 
forbids recjuiring pupils to buy any books whatever. The cost in future 
seems likely to be about $200,000 per year, if the present policj^ is 
pursued. 

A question for the future to settle is the matter of individual 
ownership of school books. Hygienically it would be preferable for a 
book never to be used by more than one child. Many people contend 
that a book once issued should belong to the individual child and never 
be passed on to another. So far, the State has not seen its way clear to 
throw away the service that still remains in many of the books after 
they have been once used, the value of which would range somewhere 
between fift}^ and one hundred thousand dollars per year, probably. 
It is possible that some plan may be evolved for issuing books in cheap 
pamphlet form, a week or a month at a time, to put in the children's 
hands for a while and then destroy. 

The ciuestion of royalty is another interesting one for the future. The 
royalty at present is about 15 per cent of the list price of the books, or 
about 50 per cent of the cost of manufacture. Since the beginning of 
the plan for leasing copyrights the state has expended $530,756.11 for 
royalties, or something less than fifty thousand dollars per year. To the 
ordinary man it seems as if this great sum could be saved in future if 
the books were written by our own California teachers. It looks like 
velvet. However, there are two sides to the matter. As a matter of 
fact the books, in the past, cost quite as much under the local authorship 

13 



plan as the}- have since under the leased copyright plan. It is possible 
that we could do better now, however, since we have more experience 
and improved conditions. Moreover, there is a law upon the statute 
books requiring texts made in California to be adopted when they 
are of equal merit and the same cost. But local authors have to be paid 
in one way or another, and the editorial work, the mechanical work of 
preparing the books for publication, has seemed in the past somehow to 
eat up the velvet. The royalty represents the author's compensation, 
the expense of preparing the plates, the cost of exploiting the book into 
a well-known and popular one that California would accept, the loss by 
unsuccessful books and the publishers' percentage of profit. There is 
room for quite a pretty argument as to whether or not the payment of 
royalty is the cheapest and best way to try out multitudes of textbooks 
in order to secure the successful and w^orkable ones. Probably the 
future will see a course somewhere between the two extremes. Some 
books lend themselves well to local preparation and others are born, not 
made. It is well to leave the whole matter in an elastic form, ready to 
adapt to future ideas, for the future will bring changes no fewer than 
those of the past. 

It is impossible to forecast the nature and the extent of those changes, 
however, and now that we have brought the thing up to date our task 
is done, and we may leave the future to take care of itself. 

Edward Hyatt. 



14 



Gaylord Bros. 



Makers 



Svraciise 



N. Y 



PAT. JAN. 21, 1908 









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